Founding member of IMPACT to retire

Clarion Top News

Wednesday, 13 November 2024 13:28

A celebration of Dr. Brad Bradford, hosted by the Jackson County 21st Century Council (IMPACT) was held recently. Bradford has lead IMPACT for 32 years. Speakers of the day included Bill White, Senator Steve Livingston, Debbie Barclay and Bo Bradford.
IMPACT was formed to deal with the literacy, or actually illiteracy, problem that affected Jackson County’s ability to attract new industry, better paying jobs, population growth, but more importantly, a problem that severely affected countless individuals throughout the county.

White stated, “The IMPACT story involves the cooperative effort of many dedicated individuals, organizations and groups. There is a great historical account of IMPACT’s formation found on IMPACT’s website, and I encourage you to read it. As I read the history, I was somewhat surprised to not see Dr. Brad’s name mentioned except for designation at the end as Chairman of the IMPACT Board of Directors.

I remembered back to 1992 or so when Dr. Brad was the President-elect of our Scottsboro Rotary Club. As the incoming president of our Scottsboro Rotary Club, Dr. Brad attended an officer’s orientation meeting at which the Rotary District Governor challenged all the Rotary Clubs in North Alabama, including the Scottsboro Club, to come up with a project focusing on literacy, and to try to reduce illiteracy as part of a worldwide Rotary theme that was announced by the International President of Rotary.

After returning to Scottsboro and appointing a Rotary committee to consider a project, Dr. Brad learned that our Scottsboro-Jackson County Chamber of Commerce had been dealing with the effects of illiteracy for some time. The Chamber’s industrial recruitment had been stymied by the fact that 42% of the adult population of Jackson County were not high school graduates; 1 in 7 Jackson County adults were functionally illiterate, meaning they couldn’t read or comprehend simple sentences; and there was an 8-10% dropout rate for high school students (9th-12th) by the age of 16 years in Jackson County.

Since the Chamber and Rotary Clubs had a mutual interest in the problems with illiteracy, their committees began meeting together to explore solutions. It was obvious that education was the overall solution, but there were so many different causes, a multifaceted approach was required to address them. Additional committee members were recruited from the community so that the committee eventually numbered around 25 permanent members. Together this group, with the Chamber’s approval, eventually chartered the Jackson County 21st Century Council as a workforce development and educational arm of the local Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Brad was named the Chairman of the 21st Century Council, but that was the only reference I found to Dr. Brad in this history. The names of so many other members were repeatedly mentioned throughout this history. Who could have possibly overlooked Dr. Brad’s contributions in preparing this history?
Cathy Mitchell, our IMPACT Executive Director, loaned me Dr. Brad’s minute book and records from the 1997 year which detailed the events that occurred after the Jackson County 21st Century Council had been formed.”

White then showed the book, which was more like a extra large binder filled with records and notes.

White continued, “In these records I found 3 other historical accounts that were used in Dr. Brad’s presentations to other groups. It finally occurred to me that all of these historical accounts had been prepared by or at the direction of Dr. Brad, and in true Dr. Brad form, he had omitted references to his name and took no credit in this history for IMPACT’s success. I can hear Dr. Brad explain that he was just lucky to have been working with a great group of people who did all the work.

As I read the rest of the story, it was obvious to me that IMPACT succeeded under Dr. Brad’s leadership for 3 key reasons, all of which point directly to Dr. Brad. The first key to success was Dr. Brad’s passion for helping others. Did Dr. Brad have an enormous passion for helping others? Just ask his patients from his medical practice. Just ask those who were members of his church, or those who worked with him in Rotary and other civic clubs. Just ask his family and friends.

And no one other than on occasion his closest friends and family knew about a whole lot of Dr. Brad’s help for others because it was done anonymously, something Dr. Brad learned to do from his parents, his uncle Jep Moody, Dr. Carl Collins, Bob Word and other local philanthropists. The only reason even his close friends would know is because he would occasionally see if they might be interested in joining him in helping someone in need, and then only if they pledged to keep his and their help confidential.

The second key to IMPACT’s success was Dr. Brad’s skill in recruiting qualified, knowledgeable, experienced people for each particular task. The 25 or so people who worked on the initial planning of IMPACT were a diverse group that included the mayor of Scottsboro, business and industry leaders, educators (teachers and administrators), adult education instructors and other specialists and stakeholders that formed an elite group cherry-picked from our community and all sharing Dr. Brad’s passion for IMPACT. Most of these people will tell you that they were recruited by Dr. Brad, and that his leadership was the deciding factor in their agreeing to serve.

If you’ve ever been approached by Dr. Brad to ask for your help on a matter, you probably know that Dr. Brad has a unique recruiting style. No phone calls – he wanted to meet personally with you, face to face, when you were a target of his recruiting – eye to eye, noses almost touching. He would explain what he needed from you and why you were the perfect person for this particular job or assignment, and he wouldn’t accept no for an answer. And who could turn down Dr. Brad? You certainly couldn’t say you were too busy to a practicing doctor who always had an office full of patients, still delivering babies in the beginning, an active involvement in church and other civic organizations, 3 school-age sons who were involved in church, athletics and other activities that he would not miss attending, a wife that loved to travel and spend time together spoiling their children and grandchildren, and with all that, he still found time to devote to IMPACT. Too busy was not an acceptable answer. When you accepted, you found out that Dr. Brad’s passion for helping others was contagious; before you knew it that passion had been transferred to you.

The third key to IMPACT’s success was Dr. Brad’s ability to form partnerships with others. Everyone involved agreed that the illiteracy problem would require the cooperation of many community assets. Dr. Brad from the Rotary Club initially reached out to the Scottsboro-Jackson County Chamber of Commerce (now known as Mountain Lakes Chamber of Commerce) to join forces in assessing the issues and putting together a plan to solve the various causes of illiteracy. Although many Rotarians were also members of the Chamber, to my knowledge they had never collaborated on a joint project. After the Jackson County 21st Century Council was chartered by the Chamber, this group reached out to form partnerships with every conceivable group that could help.

IMPACT could not have succeeded without Dr. Brad, but it also could not have succeeded without all of you incredible partners.

And thank you to Nancy Bradford for loaning your husband to IMPACT for over 32 years, and to the whole Bradford family for your support of your dad and granddad as he worked tirelessly to improve the lives of thousands of people helped by IMPACT.

There’s still much work to do, but so much has been accomplished by IMPACT since it was initially chartered with this mission statement: Recognizing that a well-educated and trained workforce is a key element to economic growth and development, our mission is to provide basic education, job skills training and higher education opportunities to all citizens of Jackson County. With this mission statement in mind, many projects have been initiated and completed by IMPACT, impacting thousands of Jackson County students and adults from all generations.

Dr. Brad is stepping down from his leadership position at IMPACT, but he continues as an active, involved director. In fact, since he stepped down, I have been targeted by him in his unique recruiting style to see if I would agree to serve on an IMPACT Planned Giving Committee. His vision is to try to establish an endowment fund under IMPACT’s 501(c)(3) non-profit, charitable organization status so that future IMPACT projects wouldn’t be limited by our fundraising efforts. Dr. Brad said that he had been approached by IMPACT supporters who were interested in donating stocks, bonds, real estate or other assets to help fund IMPACT. In fact, recently Dr. Tom Gibson’s family and his estate donated an antique Mercedes Benz automobile to IMPACT to be sold or used as IMPACT might decide.

It sounded like a wonderful idea, but I had to tell Dr. Brad I had a 2-year-old granddaughter and really didn’t have the time to devote to his committee. He mumbled something about his 7 grandchildren and waited a couple of days before targeting me again. I’m addressing this today so I can hopefully get him off my back.

Dr. Brad, on behalf of our entire community, thank you for all you’ve already done, and what I know you will continue to do for both IMPACT and all the citizens of Jackson County with your enormous passion for helping others. We love you!”

Senator Steve Livingston presented Bradford with a resolution highly honoring and accommodating him for his service.

A scholarship in honor of Bradford was also announced.

Dr. Bo Bradford, son of Dr. Brad, gave the closing remarks. Bo stated, “I’m part of the group who can never say no to Dr. Bradford as well, for many different reasons. Throughout the last century, my maternal and paternal grandfathers left lasting legacies in our city and our county. My mother’s father, Walt Hammer served as our city’s mayor from 1988 until 1992. His leadership brought valuable industry and commerce to our area. He championed the idea that Scottsboro was someplace special. He was a visionary who brought significant progress. My father’s father, Charles Bradford was a courageous veteran who fought fearlessly for our country in WWII, in which he was a prisoner of war. Years after, he again voluntarily chose to serve in the Korean War. As captain of his battalion, he was responsible for training and leading 164 of Scottsboro and Jackson County’s finest men. In 1951, he brought all of those men back home to their families. Without him, many of us would not be here today. My father, Dr. Brad Bradford, has never served as the mayor, nor has he been the captain of a battalion, leading men into war. However, his impact on our community will never be forgotten. Even though you may not like it Dad, today is about honoring you. Honoring the contributions you’ve made to our community, the lives you have touched, the lives that you have saved, the influence that you have had, and most importantly, the way that you have chosen to live your life.

And lastly, the legacy that you will leave behind. As a father, you raised three God-fearing men; you showed each of us how to be a faithful husband, and how to be a present, loving and supportive father. You taught us the importance of family and the value of hard work. You devoted your life to serving your patients faithfully, diligently and compassionately. Practicing medicine brought you fulfillment and sustained a great way of life, but you were always more concerned about the people you were serving and your relationship with your patients. Helping people came first and making a living came second. Education has always been a passion of yours. IMPACT is the offspring of your passion and determination to make Jackson County a better place to live and work. Your impact on both the Jackson County and Scottsboro City education systems are unequivocal. Our schools and communities have thrived because of your ambition and your drive. There is no doubt that I am proud of the man that you are and the legacy that you have left for others to follow. Your achievements and accomplishments throughout your career pale in comparison to how you have lived your life; faithful, hospitable, determined, driven, gracious, selfless and humble. Without your guidance and ambition, we would not be where we are today.”

Dr. Brad then spoke, stating, “First, I want to thank each of you have taken time out of this day to celebrate what IMPACT has been blessed to accomplish over the past 32 years.”

Bradford then recognized the IMPACT Board of Directors. “Our battle cry was 42 percent of the people in Jackson County were not high school graduates. One in seven were functionally illiterate. Somewhere between five and ten percent of people were dropping out of school. It was bad. Now, in 2024 the high school non-graduation rate is around 21 percent, half of what it was then. It’s difficult to know if we at IMPACT had an impact on that. We’re all happy and grateful for the results. I’ve done a great job during the last three decades for taking credit for all the hard work that other people have done. I was only one of many voices. Thanks to Scottsboro and Jackson County for letting me be your voice. God Bless America.”

From the citizens of Jackson County, we all hope that Dr. Brad has a prosperous and wonderful retirement. Thank you for your many years of service to our community.